Life after the Party or Picking up Monster Girls

Life after the Party

Or

Picking up Monster Girls

Chapter 11

Woodland Hills Mall - A Week Later - Yuki’s P.O.V.

The Uber over here wasn’t bad. Actually, the driver was kind enough to keep the heater off. Although, to be honest I wasn’t sure why I was agreeing to spending time with Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Pamela. Pinkie had beaten me. She claimed Nick, and I understood that now he was off limits. I could, and did, respect that she won, but why I was agreeing to spending time with her was beyond me. I needed to be out looking for a possible husband. It was my duty to my village, and one that I planned on fulfilling.

I suppose that I did go at attempting to get to Nick the wrong way. I looked at him like a potential piece of meat, but I had always heard that men liked that. That they enjoyed when women would let them know what their intentions were. It wasn’t like Pinkie didn’t hide her intentions, but she did try to get to know him. She wasn’t just throwing herself at him, and he responded to that. Maybe that was what I should have done. Instead of just trying to get him to take me I should have gotten to know him, learn his interests, his joys, fears, everything, and then moved forward.

It was, at the very least, a learning experience. As we walked through the mall I listened to the sounds of last minute shoppers trying to get what they wanted for the holidays. Christmas was coming up, and before long there would be hundreds of children expecting presents under the trees. It was one of my favorite holidays as well. We’re able to walk around outside without much worry, and we can joy the simple things that so many take for granted during the hotter parts of the year.

I looked over at Pamela who looked amazed. Her eyes were wide in wonder as we walked through the mall.

“Wow, it’s so amazing!” she squealed as she walked near us.

“Oh, was this mall not here before?” Fluttershy asked.

Pamela shook her head, “No, it opened a couple of years before, but it’s really changed. I only really got to come to it once. My mom wanted to do some Christmas Shopping, and since I was starting college she wanted to know what I would want. So we walked around and looked at everything. There was an Albersons’, a J.C. Penny’s, a Sears, a few toy shops, and the food court was amazing!”

She giggled, “We ate lunch here at the food court. I remember getting chinese and mom got tacos.”

She looked at the stores around her, “I don’t really see anything that I remember when I came through here with mom,” she said as she looked around, “Actually, most of this looks really new.”

I watched as Pinkie grabbed her hand, “That’s okay,” she beamed, “Because now you get to make brand new memories with your new friends!”

I watched as Pamela’s smile returned, and somehow that pretty pink pony began making things better with her infectious smile. Somehow she managed to keep her from depressed, and it amazed me at how well she was able to do that. It was almost as if her entire reason for existing was to bring joy to others. In truth I couldn’t help but like her. She was simply someone that was easy to like, easy to get to know, and she seemed so warm and caring.

As we walked I could feel the warmth of the store around me. I was so glad that I wore shorts and a tank top today. We walked toward something and I smiled as I saw that our first stop was the J.C.Penny’s. Pamela walked into it with us, and I could see her excitement. This was someplace that she knew. I doubted that the layout was the same as when she last visited, but regardless we walked with her, and she headed toward the clothing section.

Winter clothes were out in abundance, and I could see her looking at the various jackets. From what I remembered Ms. Jones had said Pamela really didn’t need to wear much. She could actually walk around in a tee shirt and panties and she would be fine. I had a feeling that there was some more to it than that. I believed that while she could technically walk around free and clear if she wanted there was a psychological part to it. That if she believed she was cold then she would be cold.

That seemed to be as likely as anything. I began to look at some of the lighter jackets when Pamela moved through the jackets, didn’t see anything, and then looked through another group of them. She groaned as she looked through the clothes.

“You okay?” I asked.

She nodded, “Yeah, but the last time I was here I saw this really cute leather jacket. It had metal studs in the collar, a small chain that ran from the top pocket to the bottom, and it was much better than any of these. I wonder if anyone will know where I can find it.”

I looked at her for a moment. I hoped that she would realise what she just said, and then remember that the last time that she was here was well over forty years ago. That jacket most likely isn’t even made anymore. Chances were that if she really wanted one she would need to go on Ebay, or she would have to find some place that sold old clothes. I noticed that she seemed to think about it, but then with a determined look she walked toward one of the girls working. The girl walked with her to the jackets, and listened to what she was describing. She looked at her for a moment and then she went to get someone else. A few minutes later a much older woman walked out to where we were all standing.

“Excuse me Miss, my employee here said that you were looking for a specific jacket,” she said.

Pamela nodded, and then she described the jacket to the woman. I watched as she listened to her, and then a small smile crossed her lips.

“Ah, you’re wanting one of the road warrior jackets. Those were incredibly popular back in nineteen seventy-seven. I should remember because I personally rang up about a thousand of those things,” she looked at Pamela, “I take it that you’ve been, gone, for some time then?”

Pamela nodded, “Well, then I suppose that it is a good thing that we do have a limited selection left over in the back.”

I looked at her completely stunned, “If you girls don’t mind waiting I’ll have someone come with me, and we will get the few remaining that we have out here. Hopefully one of them will fit.”

Pamela looked excited, and I watched as both Pinkie and Fluttershy seemed intrigued at the prospect of something in fashion that they hadn’t seen yet. We stood, talking, waiting, and for about half an hour it seemed that perhaps they wouldn’t find anything for her at all, but when I was about to suggest that we look somewhere else the older woman showed up with two other girls. They were moving a rolling rack out from the back. On it was about a dozen jackets, all of them looking exactly like what Pamela had described.

J.C.Penny’s Woodland Hills Mall - Pamela’s P.O.V.

I had never been so happy as I was at that moment. There were the jackets that I had been talking about. They even had both the red and black jackets. I walked toward them, and then I saw it. It looked just like the black one that I had wanted. I took it down, tried it on, and I felt how well it fit. I smiled at the lady and nodded.

“I want this one,” I said, “It’s perfect.”

She nodded, and then I saw the other girls trying on the other jackets. They seemed to like them, except that I noticed that Fluttershy seemed to want a slightly bigger one. I suppose that with wings that would make sense. After all she would need room in the jacket for her wings to fit comfortably. The lady walked us over toward the checkout counter, which was odd. I remembered there being a main one, but they had them in each section. That actually made a lot more sense. If someone didn’t want to look at everything they could just pay for what they wanted at the section they were in. I bet that my mom would have loved that. In fact I would imagine that she would have told everybody about how useful that was.

The lady looked at us, smiling warmly, and then began to put the jackets into individual bags.

“I’m just going to ring you up for what they cost at the time, which is about twenty-five dollars apiece.”

I grinned, but I noticed how surprised the other girls looked.

“What? Twenty-five dollars is a lot of money.”

They looked at me like I had said something strange. The older woman simply rang us up, one hundred dollars, plus tax, and then I watched as Pinkie Pie paid for them. We walked out of the store and the girls seemed to be talking about how great of a deal we had gotten. But seriously, twenty-five dollars is a lot of money. I remember my mom paying twenty-five dollars for an entire cart full of groceries at the store before.

I shook my head as we walked. I mean, honestly, how could twenty-five dollars be that good of a deal?

Foodcourt - Woodland Hills Mall - Pinkie Pie’s P.O.V.

Oooo, they’ve got everything a pony could ever possibly want in here! I was feeling hungry, and I knew that Fluttershy and Yuki most likely were as well. The four of us walked into the food court and I looked at the number of shops. What really sounded good was pizza. Nicky had treated me to a vegetarian pizza before, and that sounded so good right now. I spotted a place called Shapiro’s, and I walked toward it. Everypony else followed me over, and I looked at the nice human mare working behind the counter.

“Hiya! Oh, do you have vegetarian pizza?!” I asked.

I might have been bouncing slightly, and the human mare smiled, “Ummm, yeah, we do.”

I grinned, “Great! Do you guys want to split a pizza?” I asked.

Pamela nodded, and Yuki nodded as well. Fluttershy looked at it and finally she gave a nod.

“Good, We want a large Vegetarian pizza, all of the veggies on it please!”

She laughed, nodded, and then asked if we wanted drinks, and duh, of course we did. We got our cups, and we began to fill them up. We took a seat, and then Yuki got up, walked over toward a booth in the middle, and then she came back with what looked like a small dish filled with little round beads. She took a spoon and dug some of them out. I noticed that they seemed to be really cold, and she took a bite.

“Ah, I love Dipping Dots,” she said.

I looked at her, “What’s Dipping Dots?”

She grinned, took a clean spoon, and got a little bit on it for me. She then passed it to me, and I took a taste. WOOWIE! It was a banana split in little beads! I got up and ran over to get one for me and Fluttershy as well. Then I thought about it, and I got one for Pamela too. I wasn’t sure if she would want it or not, but it’s always nice to do something for someone. Even if they didn’t expect it. I took it back over to our table, and then I passed them out. I watched Fluttershy as she began to eat hers, and I saw Pamela look at it oddly before trying it. Then she took the small cup, picked it up, and began pouring it into her mouth.

When we finished our pizza was ready, and it smelled so good! I was so ready to eat it, and I could see that my friends were too. I went to get it, and I carried it back to our table. I took a slice for myself, bit into it, and it tasted amazing! It was actually better than the pizza that Nicky had shared with me.

North Exit to the Woodland Hills Mall - Nick’s P.O.V.

I looked at the girls as I pulled up. From the bags that they had I guessed that they had a successful girls day out. I parked my old truck, helped them load everything, and then I got back into the truck.

“So how was everything?” I asked.

Pinkie grinned, “It was awesome!”

Pamela nodded, “Yeah, but two hundred dollars isn’t as much as I thought it was.”